Vietnam

For fall break, I spent most of my time in Bali, Indonesia, but we also met up with Nicha in Vietnam.  I give all the credit to Calien for organizing the flights and getting us to Vietnam.  In Southeast Asia, AirAsia has a point system where you can purchase tickets for cheaper prices.  It's pretty frustrating to use because it's glitchy and getting from point A to point B is usually not a straight flight.  Calien was able to pick our flights for fall break but to get to Da Nang where Nicha was, we had to have a layover in Malaysia and spend 24 hours in Ho Chi Minh.  It was pretty exhausting but made for an exciting adventure.  We were also pretty stoked to get a Malaysian stamp in our passports.

In Ho Chi Minh, we did my favorite thing to do, which is simply walking around and seeing what we could find.  Since we were only there for the day, there was no use in driving somewhere far and wasting time.  We spent a lot of time in district 1 exploring in the famous Ben Thanh market.  Compared to Thai markets, Vietnamese markets were crazy.  The market was packed with anything you could imagine.  You couldn't show interest in anything or the sellers would be up in your face trying to make a deal.  I made that mistake looking at a basket bag and the seller grabbed me and tried to pull me back to her stall.  I can ignore yelling, but I don't like to be pulled.  I don't think anyone does.  I think a lot of sellers try and get sales by intimidating tourists, but I like to think of myself now as a seasoned traveler who could care less about intimidation.

Pho Bo for lunch!

Another place we spent some time at was the War Remnants Museum.  It was devastating to see hundreds of photos of victims of Agent Orange.  This museum was well-organized and really let me witness the tragedy of the Vietnam war.  In school, we are never really taught about the Vietnam war.  Teachers focus on other wars where the war crimes are committed by other countries and our country is portrayed as the hero.  As hard as it is to come to terms with, the United States has committed terrible acts on innocent people too.  Even today, I could see the effects of Agent Orange among the people in Vietnam and future generations will deal with Agent Orange as well.  Agent Orange isn't the only thing people suffer from today.  Landmines are still scattered across Vietnam that kill many each year.  It is predicted that it will take over 100 years to clean up them all.  This museum really showed me how wars affect people for generations upon generations.

That night we flew up to Da Nang, Vietnam to meet up with Nicha at an Airbnb.  The next morning we got some breakfast and grabbed a car to Sun World to see the new Golden Hand Bridge.  To get to Sun World, we had to take a cable car to the top.  It was so magical to travel up the mountains and through the morning fog.  Once we reached the top, I felt like I was at Hogwarts.  The buildings looked so mystical and medieval.  The bridge was even bigger than I imagined and was truly a work of art.  After the bridge, we walked around the courtyards and enjoyed the Halloween decorations.  There was so much to explore and they had an incredibly large, indoor amusement park.

That night Calien and I ate some Pho Bo for dinner and walked to the beach.  The streets were actually pretty quiet that night for once and there were a lot of fish markets near the beach to look at.  The last thing we did was walk across the dragon bridge back to our Airbnb.  It changes colors and breathes fire.  

Yoga on the Beach

Fish Market on the Way to Dinner

Pho Bo Time!

The next and last day, we explored the city by bike and popped into all the little shops we could find.  I really enjoyed riding bikes on the backroads and through farms.  It was a great day.

Vietnam and Indonesia were something else.  They made me really appreciate Thailand and how nice the people are.  They made me feel like Thailand was my place to come home to.  They challenged my independence, patience, and self-respect.  They taught me how to talk to strangers and put trust in them.  They taught me that sometimes I can't do things for myself and there are people out there willing to help.  And for that, I'm so grateful for Vietnam and Indonesia.

Indonesia

Welcome back, friends!  I hope you enjoyed part one of my Thailand adventures because today I am back with part two!  In the first half of my experience, I was still learning the way of life in Thailand and how I fit in it all.  Compared to London, I had a difficult time leaving home mentally.  I didn't want to leave my friends and knew my relationships would change.  Travel isn't as pretty as we make it seem.  I've really had to adapt to letting go and becoming unattached in order to live the life I've always dreamed about.  The first semester tested and taught me just that.  I was surrounded by Buddhism as a way of life.  I was still holding on to the possibilities of what could be if I stayed at home when the possibility was never possible.  I learned that by being attached to something, an idea, wish, object, or even person, only leads to suffering.  That was the greatest lesson I learned in Thailand.  To let it be and let it go.

Thailand taught me a lot of life lessons, but it was also filled with wanderlust and adventure.  The second half of Thailand was when I got to travel out of the country, have my dad visit, and really start to feel part of the community.  There were a lot of ups and downs, but I also made an effort to push myself out of my own head and connect with more people.  Most importantly, the weather either calmed down or I finally adjusted to the heat and humidity.  That is still a mystery. I am thankful either way because my and my roommate's room was the only room without A/C.  Go figure!  

Thailand - Part One

Hello friends!  It has been such a long time since I was blogging in London in 2016 but here we go again!  Since my last post, I changed my degree to Globalization & International Affairs and my minor to Asian Studies, I studied abroad in Thailand, and oh yeah...I GRADUATED!  It seems like I took forever to finish my degree but I'm happy to say that I graduated a semester early.  Now, I have a cheeky, new adventure to start in June that I'm dying to share!  Sorry folks but you're going to have to wait a little longer for me to spill the news!

Alright, let's get to the point of this post.  To bridge a gap between London and my adventure ahead, I think it's important to share some noteworthy experiences I had in 2018; particularly in Thailand.

I got a lot of questions concerning Asia and my studies such as...

How can you learn in class if you are going to a Thai university?
Did you actually learn or is studying abroad more of a vacation?
Do you have to know or learn a language to study abroad?

Today, ladies and gentlemen, I will finally answer as many of those questions I have received...let's do it!

For my last semester, I went to Chiang Mai University in Chiang Mai, Thailand with the USAC program.   I arrived in Thailand mid-August and left in mid-December.  I came to Thailand knowing 0% of Thai and the only "Thai" food I had was the typical Pad Thai.  And I'll be honest, I barely did any research on the country beforehand; only enough to satisfy my family to let them know that I would be safe.  I wanted to jump in with as little expectations or bias as possible.  I might have regretted that the first few days or at least I wish I would have looked up what to do.  I arrived a few days before my program started and had a few days to explore on my own.  The first two nights I stayed in a hotel to catch up on sleep and then the other days I spent closer to Old Town where I stayed in a hostel.  My days were spent wondering aimlessly around the city, stumbling across temples as I went.  I was overwhelmed by all the sights, smells, and sounds.  I remember just being in complete awe of my new home and the adventures that were in store.

I moved into my housing a few days after arriving and spent the day with some other early arrivals.  My housing was a lot nicer than my housing in London.  I did have my own room and bathroom in London, but it was kind of ran down.  In Thailand, I shared an apartment-style dorm with one roommate but the rooms were much more modern and new.  I was so lucky to get the BEST roommate ever.  I was nervous living with my roommate but I honestly don't have any complaints.  Mariela. Is. The. Best.

At Chiang Mai University, my studies included Buddhism, International Political Economy, Diplomacy in Southeast Asia(ASEAN), Global Environmental Politics and Social Movements, and Highland Ethnic Peoples and Social Transformation of Northern Thailand. In comparison to London where I had classes with the Southbank University students, all of my classes in Thailand were just with other USAC students.  I was lucky to have professors that were from all over the world.  My professors were from Portugal, Thailand, Singapore, the United States, and England.  All of them taught in English however sometimes it was difficult to understand with their accents.  My favorite course was Global Environmental Politics and Social Movements.  It broadened my knowledge on climate change and why the rest of the world resists accepting responsibility for causing such a detrimental shift in the climate.

One of the first temples I found

USA Students Made International News

One of the first things that happened in our program was that some of the people got lost in the jungle, had to be rescued by the Thai army, and made international news.  I was not one of them, but many of my friends were some of the students that were rescued.  It is quite funny to see how the press got a lot of the information wrong and shows that you can't always believe the news.  Very long story made short was that a group of 11 students went on a hike and was led off trail trying to find a waterfall.  It's easy to do in Thailand.  After hours of trying to find their way out, they had to call for help.  It can be dangerous at night because of wild hogs and snakes.  Luckily, the Thai army came and led them back to safety.  

Pai, Thailand

I took my first trip to Pai with my friends: Maura, Leah, and Nikki.  We had a blast.  We rented scooters and drove all over to see waterfalls, a bamboo walkway over rice paddies, temples, and so many coffee shops.  One of the days we drove over an hour out of Pai towards Myanmar.  The drive was so much fun because the road went up, down, and all around.  Thai people call the shuttle ride to Pai the "Vomit Comet" and for good reasons!  We ended up at a lodge in the middle of nowhere where we decided last minute to kayak through a cave and then some rapids.  The tour guides were kind enough to lend us clothes and shoes since we didn't plan on it!

This bamboo walkway went over rice paddies, to a temple, and through the mountains.

The kayaking trip was definitely a highlight of Thailand.  We kayaked through a cave that was on the film "Planet Earth" where they captured bats feeding on the insects.  We had to hike to the second cave where the guide had to pull a leech off my leg.  That cave had two purposes.  The people used to hunt porcupine in the cave and monks also spent days meditating in the back off the cave.  Once we went back to kayaking, there were some rapids.  I remember the guide told me that we were going to go down some waterfalls and I was so excited.  I didn't realize that one of those "waterfalls" was a huge dam!  Once we went down the dam it hit me that I wasn't in the United States anymore.  In the United States, rafting and kayaking companies would make everyone either stop or go around.  In Thailand, anything goes and I was ready for it.

Our drive back to Pai was less than ideal.  It was dark, it was raining, it was freezing, and we were low on gas with an hour to go.  Luckily we found a lady that sold us gas out of wine bottles that gave us just enough to get back.

Bua Thong Sticky Waterfall, Thailand

Sticky Waterfall definitely put us in some sticky situations.  The day after getting back from Pai, our group decided to take a Grab (Thailand's version of UBER/Lyft) to the famous waterfall that was about an hour away.  This waterfall is unique because the rock is made of mineral deposits that makes the rock grippy.  It feels like you are walking on a hardened sponge.  This allows people to walk up the cascading waterfall.  

At the base of the waterfall, there was a little pool of water that I was eyeing up to jump in.  Calien could tell and warned me not to jump in because it was too shallow.  Being as stubborn as I am, I jump in.  He was right.  My feet smashed into the bottom and a rock lodged into my foot.  It hurt a lot, especially since I hurt my ankle on the same foot in Pai.  While getting on to me about jumping, Calien got the rock out.  Thanks friend.

Once we were ready to go, we tried calling another Grab, but no one would come.  Half of the time we couldn't even get service.  All the cars were gone from the parking lot, so we could either camp there for the night or walk to the nearest big road.  We decided to walk and walk and walk.  Keep in mind my foot was still throbbing in pain.  After about an hour, a farmer passes us in a pickup truck and we flag him down.  He was so kind and let us catch a ride in the back to the big road.  Once we got to the big road, a woman appeared who was able to call one of her friends to drive us back.  Her friend happened to be a old lady who drove a decked out Hello Kitty car.  This sticky situation really showed me how kind Thai people are.  They will go out of their way to help anyone, even if they are wet, dumb Americans.

A Trip to the Hospital

Even though I wasn't the best at following the travel rules such as no ice or raw produce, I managed to stay healthy except for one time.  After the trip to Pai and Sticky Waterfall, I began to feel very ill.  I had no energy, I had chills, my head hurt, I was sick to my stomach, I was dizzy and some other gruesome symptoms.  I don't remember this too well but my friend told me that he knew I needed to go to the hospital once I called him being concerned about seeing spiders crawl all over me.  Apparently I had begun to hallucinate.

The point of me telling this story is to rave about how nice Chiang Mai's hospital was since I'm ask a lot about Thailand's healthcare.  The ER was clean and modern.  Everything was super organized and I was able to find someone who spoke English very quickly.  It was a little intimidating once I told the doctor my symptoms and was immediately taken to the infectious disease room.  I had my blood tested and everything came back clear.  I was given medications for the symptoms and I eventually went back to normal.  We still don't know what was wrong with me.  It could have been the cave or leech in Pai, I could have been dehydrated, my body could have been in shock from all the change, etc.  Who knows!  I'm just glad I'm disease free.

Krabi, Thailand

Before fall break, Calien and I took a trip down to Krabi.  It is growing to be a popular beach destination and is about an hour drive away from the famous Phuket and a ferry ride away from Phi Phi Island.  My favorite thing we did was a 7 island tour.  The scenery seemed like something only from my imagination.  I got to snorkel for the first time and I absolutely loved it.  I was lucky to have Calien who was from Hawaii and a great swimmer to help teach me how to snorkel.  He also tried to convince me that there were no sharks...but I wasn't buying it.  The day ended with seeing bioluminescent plankton.  I never thought in a million years I would have the chance to see them.  It was enchanting and scary at the same time.  The plankton were beautiful and resembled fairy dust but we were also in the ocean in the pitch black of night.  

The monkeys on the island would find and take any food people had.

Seeing these in real life was truly an unbelievable experience.   Things this beautiful only belong in dreams, right?

The next day we spent the day rafting, zip-lining, making new friends, trying local fruit, and seeing elephants and monkeys.  It was a great day.  My favorite part was making friends with people from Malaysia, China, and Singapore.

Friends we made from Malaysia and China!

On our last day, we decided to spend the day at the beach.  Calien and I planned on going to the popular beach, Ao Nang, but found a trail leading up a mountain so we decided to follow it.  To our surprise, we found a beautiful private beach with only a handful of people.  Calien convinced me to swim out and around an island which was a big deal to me.  I HATE being in open water.  I feel like something is going to drag me under.  I did it though, even though I drove Calien crazy with all my shrieks about being scared.  It took us over an hour to swim there and back...it was way farther away than expected.  On the way back I started panicking because something HUGE jumped out of the water.  Calien assured me that it was another person and that the person would resurface but no one ever did.  I'm convinced it was a sea monster out for blood.  

After the beach we decided to treat ourselves to a massage before catching our flight.  Massages in Thailand were always so cheap.  For that massage I believe we paid 200 baht or $7 for an hour.  In Chiang Mai, I always went to get massages at "Women Massage Center by Ex-Prisoners" for 120 baht an hour.  Anyways, after we had a massage, we caught our flight back to Chiang Mai.

The path we found to the private beach

Calien and I swam out to the island ahead

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Stay tuned for more Thailand posts everyday leading up to my 

destination announcement on April 10th!

Thanks for reading!